DOHA: Chad’s military government and dozens of opposition groups started peace talks on Sunday in Qatar as a first step toward ending a rebellion and holding elections.
The landlocked African nation was thrown into turmoil by the killing of longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno in battle with rebels in the country’s north last April.
His son, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, took over the country after his death, fronting a 15-member military junta and vowing to hold free elections.
Chad’s Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke and African Union Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat told the opening of the conference that both sides would have to make “concessions” for the talks to succeed.
But the process risks being protracted and complicated.
Some 44 armed rebel and opposition groups were invited to the Doha meeting — though some were missing at the opening, which had already been delayed from February 27.
Diplomats said these “precursor” talks could take weeks and that a planned “national dialogue” due to start on May 10 may have to be delayed.
Under the younger Deby’s plan, the dialogue would be a prelude to agreeing on a new constitution and then holding elections.
Chad has a long history of volatility since gaining independence from France in 1960 and tens of thousands have died in various conflicts.
It has a large and shifting constellation of armed opposition groups.
“The situation in Chad is very serious, we have to deliver this,” the African Union’s Faki said in his address to the government and armed groups.
Padacke said that “peace requires more courage and maturity than war.”
“Real courage does not mean brandishing your weapon but to have the courage to lay it down,” added the prime minister.
He also said success in the talks would help stabilize the whole Sahel region where radical Islamist groups have staged regular attacks.
Libya’s Foreign Minister Najla Al-Mangoush also said that the peace process would be crucial to improving stability and help “fight terrorism” in the Sahel.
As a condition for the Doha talks, Chadian rebels called for a general amnesty and the release of “prisoners of war” and the return of confiscated assets.
The military government says it has released hundreds of prisoners and amnestied several prominent leaders.
However, it has so far excluded the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) — the Libya-based group that launched the offensive in which Idriss Deby Itno was killed.
FACT leader Mahamat Mahdi Ali was not at the talks.
Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, a 38-year-old four-star general, took the helm last April.
The elder Deby himself came to power at the head of a rebel force in 1990. In 2008 and again in 2019, columns of fighters came close to forcing him out, but each time were thwarted by French military power.
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Chad peace talks start in Qatar
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Chad peace talks start in Qatar
- The landlocked African nation was thrown into turmoil by the killing of longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno
Israeli police detain aide to Netanyahu
JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Sunday they detained a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspected of obstructing an investigation, with local media reporting that it was tied to leaks of military information during the Gaza war.
Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel’s next ambassador to the UK.
“This morning, a senior official in the prime minister’s office was detained for questioning... on suspicion of obstructing an investigation,” the police said.
“The suspect... is currently being questioned under caution.”
Former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein recently alleged that Braverman tried to obstruct an investigation into a leak of sensitive military information to the foreign press during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
In September 2024, Feldstein leaked a classified document from the Israeli military to the German tabloid Bild, for which he was later arrested and indicted.
The document aimed to prove that Hamas was not interested in a ceasefire deal, and to support Netanyahu’s claim that the hostages captured by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel could only be released through military pressure instead of negotiations.
In an interview with Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet with him soon after the leak.
Braverman informed him that the army had launched a probe into the affair, and said he could “shut down” the investigation, according to Feldstein.
In the same interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was aware of the leak and was in favor of using the document to drum up public support for the war.
Israeli media reported that police also searched Braverman’s home on Sunday, and that Feldstein was expected to speak with police later in the day regarding Braverman’s suspected involvement in the affair.
Feldstein is also a suspect in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, in which he and other close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy’s image in Israel.
Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement during the war in Gaza.
An investigation is under way, and Feldstein, together with another Netanyahu aide, was taken into custody in late March.
In response to Braverman’s questioning by the police on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid called to suspend his appointment as ambassador to the UK.
“In light of the new developments in the Qatargate affair, the appointment of Tzachi Braverman as ambassador to Britain must be immediately suspended,” Lapid wrote on X.
“It is unacceptable that someone suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.”
Braverman is not suspected of direct involvement in the Qatargate affair, according to Israeli media.
Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel’s next ambassador to the UK.
“This morning, a senior official in the prime minister’s office was detained for questioning... on suspicion of obstructing an investigation,” the police said.
“The suspect... is currently being questioned under caution.”
Former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein recently alleged that Braverman tried to obstruct an investigation into a leak of sensitive military information to the foreign press during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
In September 2024, Feldstein leaked a classified document from the Israeli military to the German tabloid Bild, for which he was later arrested and indicted.
The document aimed to prove that Hamas was not interested in a ceasefire deal, and to support Netanyahu’s claim that the hostages captured by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel could only be released through military pressure instead of negotiations.
In an interview with Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet with him soon after the leak.
Braverman informed him that the army had launched a probe into the affair, and said he could “shut down” the investigation, according to Feldstein.
In the same interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was aware of the leak and was in favor of using the document to drum up public support for the war.
Israeli media reported that police also searched Braverman’s home on Sunday, and that Feldstein was expected to speak with police later in the day regarding Braverman’s suspected involvement in the affair.
Feldstein is also a suspect in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, in which he and other close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy’s image in Israel.
Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement during the war in Gaza.
An investigation is under way, and Feldstein, together with another Netanyahu aide, was taken into custody in late March.
In response to Braverman’s questioning by the police on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid called to suspend his appointment as ambassador to the UK.
“In light of the new developments in the Qatargate affair, the appointment of Tzachi Braverman as ambassador to Britain must be immediately suspended,” Lapid wrote on X.
“It is unacceptable that someone suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.”
Braverman is not suspected of direct involvement in the Qatargate affair, according to Israeli media.
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